Modern wedding dresses for brides

New bride-to-be Kate Moss may join the trend for off-the-peg wedding gowns - and if she buys hers online, she can even skip the endless fittings, says Clare Coulson.

BY Clare Coulson |
27 January 2010

News of Kate Moss's engagement last week to her rock-star boyfriend Jamie Hince should have her fashion-designer friends aflutter. Although she is likely to keep the dress under wraps until her big day, one thing is certain: the supermodel will not plump for a traditional wedding gown.

She's not alone. Increasingly, women are opting for more fashion-forward dresses for their nuptials. The demand is so great that Net-a-Porter is launching an online wedding boutique next month, packed with cool pieces for brides who wouldn't dream of wearing a poufy meringue.

The boutique will sell "anything that could be worn as a wedding dress", from commissioned pieces, including Stella McCartney's black lace dresses reworked in off-white, to looks straight from the catwalk. There are layered plissé dresses from Chloé and pretty tea dresses in organza from Marc Jacobs, as well as sleek sheaths from Roland Mouret and Jil Sander. It will also stock Lanvin's Blanche collection, designer Alber Elbaz's annual collection of dresses worked in a similar vein. The current range includes draped asymmetric silk dresses cinched with ribbon sashes and silk flapper-style dresses trimmed with cream marabou feathers.

Shoes, jewellery and lingerie are also available, and everything is delivered gift-wrapped in sleek white boxes.

The luxury e-tailer has already dipped its toe into the market with a small boutique that sits within the main site. "We had an amazing reaction when we first started to sell a few pieces, so it felt like the perfect thing to start doing in a big way," says buying director Holli Rogers. "There's a bride out there who doesn't want fuss. Maybe she's too busy, or decides to get married on a whim, or it's her second wedding and she doesn't want to go through five fittings again."

For women used to shopping online, the idea of buying a wedding outfit can be no different from any other purchase. "I would have had no qualms about buying my dress online, if the boutique had existed when I was getting married," says Jessica Bates, who got married wearing a Moschino oyster chiffon column dress in Chelsea last summer. "I shop online for clothes regularly, so I feel really comfortable with the way it works - trying on my dress at home would have been amazing."

Convenience aside, for many modern brides, the idea of dressing up in a big gown that bears no relation to how they look on any other day of their life is off-putting. As designer Erdem Moralioglu, who has recently been commissioned to create a short silk dress for one magazine editor, puts it: "On your wedding day you want to look like the very best version of you - not feel that you are 'dressed up' as a bride."

Arabella Cooper, who got married in a cream sheath dress by Dolce & Gabbana at her small wedding last autumn, agrees. "It wasn't that I didn't want to look devastating on the day, or that I didn't want to floor my husband when I walked into the chapel. I wanted to look like myself, not what the wedding industry says I should look like." She's typical of many women in their twenties, thirties and beyond who refuse to buy into the "princess for a day" image that the bridal industry peddles.

Although cost was not a factor for Cooper, being able to wear the dress again definitely was. "What a waste to have something divine in your closet that you can't ever find an occasion for again. That, to me, is a fashion
faux pas
."

The current trend for all-white ensembles means there is plenty of choice for brides-to-be this spring. Bottega Veneta's crisp, draped dresses and Erdem's neat long-sleeved lace frocks would be perfect for a chic city wedding, topped with stunning vintage jewellery. Chloé's fluid, off-white sleeveless silk gown with pleated chiffon train, or Rochas's floaty silk dress with full skirt, would be cool enough for a wedding abroad.

And unlike traditional wedding dresses, looks from ready-to-wear collections work on older brides. Jil Sander's exquisite ruffle-front shift, for example, would look elegant on a bride of any age - and you could wear it for years after the big day, too.